


the distance between us

by WickedBee



Series: Acotar mermaid AU [2]
Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Angst and Feels, Bonding, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Long-Distance Friendship, POV Elain Archeron, POV Nesta Archeron, Sibling Bonding, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24145216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WickedBee/pseuds/WickedBee
Summary: Nesta is trying to leave behind every remain of her life as a mermaid, but her sister has other ideas.Elain can only deal with one problem at time and meanwhile hope her others will disappear. It doesn't work that way, but she manages to bond with Lucien and Azriel without wanting to crawl out of her skin.
Relationships: Elain Archeron & Azriel & Lucien Vanserra, Elain Archeron & Nesta Archeron, Nesta Archeron & Lucien Vanserra, Nesta Archeron & Original Character(s)
Series: Acotar mermaid AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1734967
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	the distance between us

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> You don't need to read the rest of the series to understand this work. That said, I add more world building on each new work. There are some explanations on the notes at the end too.
> 
> Feyre's is right when she said Nesta would do anything for Elain, they are king and lionheart, but the reverse is the same too. Elain _did_ save Nesta and Cassian when the King of Hybern was going to kill them. Elain is just as ride or die for Nesta as Nesta is for her. Elain won't allow Nesta to just sever their bond without fighting.
> 
> That said, good reading!

Nesta looks at the man at her door. He looks at her. She closes the door and is sure to turn all the five locks. She returns to commenting a fanfiction, a train wreck of a tragedy time travel so fascinating to read she has been saving the update as a treat. She even took out an old wine bottle she has been saving. Nesta is not dealing with him now. No mer business for her, today or ever again.

Her visitor insists on staying despite her obvious message. "Your sister has something for you!"

"Feyre can keep her damned things to herself, I don't care." _Her home is not my home, I am not welcomed there and she made it quite clear last I saw her._

"Elain sent me." Nesta pauses. Considers it. Drinks her wine. Finishes her sentence and hits to send it. Unlocks her door and points at his chest, uncaring for whatever reason he can stay on two feet at her doorway. "My home, my rules. No funny business here. Last time I involved myself with ones of your ilk I was taken and got into a **_war_**. Never again."

Lucien gives her an once over, a predator looking at another. She doesn't know what he finds, but he gets stuck on her bare feet. He nods and only then Nesta allows him on her living room. Lucien takes the couch and she returns to the armchair. Nesta takes a sip and doesn't offer some refreshments or nothing of the kind. He is not her guest.

"You know you are part of my ilk now, yes?" Lucien cocks his head and smiles in a way entirely fox like now they are above water. "You just got rid of the nice bits."

"Am I?" Nesta lifts her eyebrows and makes a sweeping gesture from her arms to her legs. Then sits cross-legged because she can. She observes the small twitches on the corner of his russet eye, the need to keep track movements even on earth or the curiosity to watch the feat she did. She doesn't want to give the topic anymore attention. "Elain talks to you now, Vanserra?"

"Whenever I visit. These are more frequent lately, but I tend to stay out of water."

"My sister isn't appealing enough to keep you there?"

Instead of anger she expects, Lucien shakes his head and laughs. "That's not it. I could stay, if Elain asked, but she will not. She likes me well enough, but likes someone else more." He shrugs it off so casually that it is even believable. He throws the ball back to her with a smirk. "And you Archeron? Nothing good enough to keep you in the sea?"

"Something like that."

"So, are the clothes so appealing you couldn't stay away or is this the cell phones? The Internet? Mortal magic sure is amazing."

Nesta snorts. These things are lifesavers she sorely missed. It must look like their own brand of magic, to have so much knowledge at his fingertips, to instantly send a message with some touches on a keyboard. Of all the people Elain could have sent, she dislikes Lucien the least, it could even be said she feels neutral to slightest positive towards him most of the time. As long he keeps not pressuring her sister, she is mostly fine with with him. "You said Elain sent me something?"

With a flourish, Lucien offers a scroll from his bag. She snatches it and frowns immediately at the contents. The completely foreign alphabet the mer use was a yellow flag about her sister's feelings on the subject in question. Importantly, the message takes a frustratingly chunk of time to decipher, because Nesta didn't think she would look at it again, least of all have to actually understand it so soon.

" _ ~~To my missing sister,~~ _

_To Nesta, beloved friend_

_~~Couldn't give me a warning you assh-~~ _

_I only found what was done to you too late to do something about it, but my displeasure has been known. I am at Day Court now. Sometimes I find myself wondering if it would be different had I interfered before._

_Don't misunderstand me. I am mad at you. You just disappeared, no notice, no warning. It was terrible, I couldn't even See you, to discover how you are. It was Feyre all over again._

_I only managed to discover where you are after a truly draining session with Helion. I am trying to get control of my visions by training with him and that day my scrying show you. I think you would like him. He is the unholy mix of player, nerd and himbo._

_I miss you, Nesta. I hope you are well. Tell me if I can help you with anything. You are my best friend, it would be such a tragedy if we lost this._

_I want to be part of your life, Nesta. Let's not play Anna and Elsa here._

_Elain Archeron_

_P.S.: Lucien is being a dear passing the message along, please treat him well."_

She takes gulp of wine and squashes the guilt on her chest to focus on the rest of the message. Only Elain would bring an animation reference to the convo. Nesta slouches on her armchair and when the morning sun hits the parchment, the ink shines in a pretty and dark blue. She doesn't need to wonder how it didn't dissolve. She remembers vividly the artificial air pockets - bubbles, they called it - underwater, another part of what divided the High Mer from their peers. High Mer could breathe and stay on these for a long time, on virtue of bigger lungs, but the same couldn't be said for the small folk, less human and more other. She knows Elain had to use one, but Nesta has no desire to ask Lucien to provide one for her message. She will have to find her own way to retort. But first, she needs time to think about it. "Give two days and you will have a reply. You have a place to stay?"

Lucien opens his mouth to retort but holds it behind his lips at the last moment. His posture shifts from the deliberately relaxed he held until now to a straight spine and tense shoulders. Strong smoke scent fills her living room. "To be clear, are you, Nesta Archeron, offering me a stay in your home as a guest?"

Nesta takes notice of the weird phrasing, the use of her full name, the smell of magic and wonders in which kind of observance she unknowingly entered. She scoffs and evades the rabbit hole. "Hardly, I am paying for your hotel. Give me your number so I can text you when I've it ready."  
  


* * *

  
"Holy mother of God."

"Fuck yourself, you devil. I hate sitting next to you. Trixie, reverse the table!"

"Trixie, don't you dare."

Nesta cannot hide her smile vicious smile, so she doesn't even bother. After buying fourteen cards she has now more than twenty at hand. And the cards placed face up besides a beer bottle are hers. Three plus four, ready to enact her vengeance. At her left, Mei wails in despair. If the sequence continues as it is, she is going to be the one taking the brunt of it.

"Stop moving, I'm taking a photo here." A brief stillness takes them while Beatrice uses her phone. She passes it to Sean. "See if you are good with me posting it." Beatrice adds two sevens at the card pile.

Sean blocks them all and finishes his move with a green zero. "You can see my piercings here, nice." He passes the phone to Nesta.

Nesta takes off three cards from her hand at once, and looks at the photo. They are all well framed and none of them are embarrassing. The focus are the cards at the table, but it is clear as day Mei is bemoaning her fate and Sean is laughing. She herself is at the forefront, smiling like a cat that got the milk and the canary. A nudge at her leg brings her attention to the table. Her turn. She sets a reverse and is pleased Sean throws another at her. "Are you afraid? Do whatever Trixie, I'm decent."

"Terrified, actually. I am dodging this bullet, don't try to change the course of fate."

"Do change fate Nesta. Post it, nothing can fuck me more after my weekend."

"What happened on the weekend Mei? Did you injure yourself?"

"Ha, I wish." Mei makes a wounded noise after finding her bottle empty. Nesta presses her own at her hands. "Thanks Nessie, you're a blessing. So, you guys remember my girlfriend right? We broke up."

"Shame, you guys were cute. What happened?"

"You see…"

Four hours later, many beers and two vodkas, enough to leave Nesta pleasantly drunk but everyone else plastered, she has a idea. She flings herself from a pillow, dodges a sleeping Sean cuddling another and goes to the couch to poke Beatrice awake. "Hmmmm?"

"Send me the pic you took today."

"Yeah? Suuuure, can you get my phone? It is… somewhere." Beatrice looks at her green walls with something like dismay while pulling her hair from her face. Nesta offers her a headband and Beatrice uses it to take her dark curly hair out of her vision. "Why do you need it?"

"My sister."

"Mei isn't ready for another relationship yet."

Nesta thinks of asking but shakes her head in negation. She will not encourage her friend's drunk ramblings. It brings to her notice a white cord dangling below the TV. She takes the charged phone from it and offers it to Beatrice. The woman unlocks it and shares the photo with her, all the while squinting at her phone. Nesta takes pity on her and brings her a water bottle, which Beatrice uses to support her neck while she sleeps on the couch. 

She gives Sean her pillow and leaves him on the floor. She is a bit of odds at him, because somewhere on the middle of everything he entered her group of friends. Nesta wasn't there, and now she doesn't know him enough to call him more than a friendly acquaintance.

Mei though, is her friend and Nesta knows her enough to remember their dance. Nesta carries her to her bedroom and it is so strange now, because once Mei was the strongest of the three of them, could lift Trixie without sweating and had bench pressed Nesta more than once. She hadn't thought- had not allowed herself to hope -they would be at her side after more than two years missing. Things changed and they with it and maybe Nesta is grasping at straws, holding their entire friendship together by messy and weak seams of past connections, but she does not want to let it go. Will not let it go, not after they tackled her - and Trixie was crying, Trixie rarely cried and Mei was holding her in a strong hug, strong enough to hurt- after her classes one day. It doesn't matter they moved on with their lives without her, Nesta clings on them like a vine. And about clinging, Mei too remembers their dance, if only the troublesome parts.

"Mei, it's time to let go."

"Don't wanna."

"Mei, please."

"Nuh uh. If I release you, you'll - _poof_ \- disappear. Promise sleep with me."

"Your bed is too small for two of us."

"Cuddle time, Nessie!" Her friend says in a sing song voice way too happy for someone who will have a killer hangover on the morning. She tightens her limbs around Nesta in a way no different than a mammoth on a tree. "Pleeeease…"

"...if you stop suffocating me, I can get on the bed."

Nesta falls asleep with an arm and a leg throw over her body, a face pressed to her chest, and black hair tickling her nose. It is the opposite of drowning: it is being surrounded by covers on chilly autumn nights, the warm sun rays after cloudy days, the fresh smell of coffee. It is more than she thinks she deserves. Nesta allows herself to just be, and it is quiet and overwhelming pleasant.  
  


* * *

  
Elain gawks at the objects before her. She looks at the doorway, where Lucien shares the same bemused expression. So, he doesn't know what to make of it too. "Did Nesta really meant to give me this? You sure?"

"I...yes, you sister was very empathic this should be for you to open only." He swims closer, but seems to prefer hovering somewhere above than stand beside her. He makes no move to approach the air pocket she is in, and for that she is grateful. The magnetic pull between them would be so much harder to ignore. "Do you understand what any of this means?"

Elain hums and inspects the package's contents again. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is inside a plastic bag, for sure so it doesn't get wet. Besides it, a small plant grows inside a bottle, oddly eye catching. Weird itself. A mirror and a plastified photography of Nesta playing cards with her friends are the rest of it. The sight of it enough to bring tears to her eyes and Elain has to force herself out of the air pocket for a moment, lest Lucien see it.

The entire get up is perplexing.

"I think I do." Carefully, she takes the photo between her ebbed fingers and traces her claws over Nesta's face. Her face is fuller, full of meat and mischief and more than the bone empty creature she was. Her hair is all up and proper, and she is in a sleeveless blouse covering her neck. There is no hint of fins on her arms or scales on her face. Jealousy makes an ugly nest on the branches of her love and she cannot shake it off. Nesta got out. Nesta became human while Elain wasn't watching and Elain wants it, wants her humanity back. Wants her friends back, her life back. She looks up. "Do you know how she did it? Azriel wouldn't tell me."

Lucien furrows his brows and mouths words soundlessly. He looks contemplative and if he knows something, Elain wants it. She swims closer to him and gently touches his arm. He jostles and stares at the contact, and the humming she has felt on her bones, the gravitational force forcing the two of them together is temporarily satisfied. Never quiet, but not pushing her for much more. It is not fair to him, for she use this connection but life hasn't been fair in a long time. It used to be her own self assigned duty to make it fairer, kinder, but Elain has no way to do it here. "Please, Lucien, could you tell me?"

And Elain hates him, because the universe made them mates, and there are few things one wouldn't do to please their mate. Hates him because he doesn't like her for herself, for her personality or for her tastes, but because he was made an unwilling slave for the ways of the Cauldron. That Lucien cannot even learn whom Elain is without being pressed to love her. That he will not ever have the opportunity to know her without all of it. And she pities him, because Elain can say no, can reject the mating bond, but Lucien cannot. The universe is unfair that way. After all, what did the Cauldron ever worried about fairness?

And Lucien tells her of Spring Court's tales, where High Lords change from merman to beast at will. There are tales there, of merpeople wishing, wanting the surface. And in these tales, the High Lords can grant them their desire forever, for a price. And Lucien tells her: the price is always too high. Too high, and some fools try to pay it, but regret it halfway and die. Too high, and some fools pay it, only for the ocean kill them. Too high, and some fools pay it, only for later try to come home and fade there.

"What's the price?" She says, half afraid and hopeful, because she still wants it, still wishes for it.

"You must understand first, the things with shapeshifters is the shift doesn't hurt. Must not hurt except if something is really wrong. But if you are not one, the magic demands a sacrifice to do it."

"Which kind of sacrifice?"

"Feyre… your sister couldn't become a mermaid if she didn't die first."

"The price is death...? Nesta died... again?"

Her whisper reverberates the water and Lucien shifts to look at her incredulous. He holds her hands on his and applies the slightest hint of pressure on it, enough to ground her here and not on the past "Elain, no, what do you mean by it? Nesta never died. You saved her from the king, don't you remember?"

Of course she remembers. Blind fury and a will to not lose her sister. The King of Hybern wouldn't take from her again. "Of course I do, I couldn't allow him to kill her _again_."

"I don't understand, when he killed Nesta?" But as he makes the question his faces loses the colour and only her hands on his anchors his body on place, with his tail making sharp and fast movements. Elain doesn't understand. He was there. He should already know this.

"The Cauldron, Lucien. To Make us, it had to kill us first."

* * *

_  
"Dear Nesta,_

_I take from your gifts you are well and has returned to college. I am proud of you. I do not know if I could do it as fast as you. I guess we will never know, since I cannot go back anymore. Still, could you be so kind send me back some of my books? I guess I will not be a veterinary anymore, but knowledge has its uses. I hope you do not mind I am sharing the_ UDHR _with Helion and others. They have this big library I am sure you would love, but it is lacking on human literature. I found some of their notions about humans absurd and downright silly. Do you think you would like some romances? I will see if it is possible to lend you some._

_If the plant is your way of asking for forgiveness, you will need more than that. But it is an excellent attempt and I admire it. Luckily for both of us, the Day Court gets much of the necessary light to keep it. I take it is a self-sustaining environment?_

_You should know I framed your picture and it is now on my inside my chambers. Is that Mei with you? Is she growing her hair out? She looks pretty with her bun._

_I don't exactly understand what the mirror is supposed to mean. Is this revenge the emojis? I guess I get it now, why you asked to use my words back then. It makes easier to understand._

_I am...concerned, to say the least, about how you got your legs. If what I learned is right, I am afraid I must be stuck on this body forever, for there are limits to what I am willing to sacrifice to get a pair for myself. I understand why you did it, I think. It wasn't the right place for us, at least at that time. Do you think if you could, would you ever return? The Day Court is a good place, you could make a home here._

_Elain Archeron_

Nesta looks up. Lucien is stuck on something else, and when she looks around, she sees her roomba making rounds on the living room. The movement attracts his gaze and once again she has his attention. "Do you agree with my sister's assessment?"

"What assessment?"

"That Night Court wasn't good for her then." She allows him time to think. She hates she cannot be there for Elain, but she doesn't regret what she did. She will never. But even outside, she can still do some good.

Lucien's eyes are watching her roomba again, but his mind is in a faraway place. He blinks and shifts from his languid pose to sag on her couch. For the first time Nesta has ever seen him, Lucien looks his age. She knows the answer before he says it. "Mother above, yes. I doubt Feyre would ever see it that way, but Elain is freer now."

"Tell me, Vanserra, how is Elain freer on the Day Court when in the Night Court she was the High Lady's sister?"

Power and status through shared blood and shared winters. No oath, except the unspoken one of growing up together and calling each other sister: to care for each other.

"Stop making me say what you already know, Archeron." He leans against his elbow and shows her his teeth. _To better bite her_. Unbidden as the thought is, it is not wrong. She still has to fill her teeth every couple of months, not to mention the new ones growing on her mouth. What Lucien does isn't a smile, and when Nesta snarls in kind because she will not _cower_ under his challenge, he slowly bares his throat and keep his gaze on hers. She swats away the emotion blooming on her chest. "Feyre's friends, Feyre's home, these are _hers_. It doesn't make them Elain's or even yours."

She agrees easily with a nod and fills their interaction on the list of things she has few ideas about and may hold some significance. "Neither is her High Lord. Is Elain sworn to Helion now? Does she owe him a fealty?"

Lucien tilts his head to the side and his crimson hair covers his face. He fails at holding it off while searching for something on his pockets, the strands easily falling from his grip. "No, she is under his protection. She is free to roam and cross the borders."

"What he gets of it?"

Lucien shrugs. "That you should ask him. Your companion has a name, Archeron?"

 _What the fuck_? "What companion?"

"The one going around the place."

"Vanserra, that's a roomba."

Lucien tries the word on his mouth. He says it wrong, so she repeats it again, slower this time. He gets the pronounce right now. "And it hasn't a name."

"Don't pets normally have one?"

 _What the hell_. Nesta takes a deep breath. And another, to be sure to calm herself down. Reminds herself she is depending on him to send her packages back to Elain and she cannot fuck this up. She gets up and takes the roomba on her hands, ignoring the sounds it makes. "A roomba isn't a pet. Neither it's alive. It's just a cleaning robot. Want to hold it and see?"

Because merfolk are very tactile, Lucien takes it. Nesta uses her phone to turn it off and watches as he pokes and prods the roomba. When she is sure he will not damage it, she takes a quiet detour to the kitchen and returns with some cups and a carton of orange juice. "If I offer you this, will it pull inside some kind of obligation or weird ritual of your kind? To be quite clear, I don't mean anything by it."

"Where I come from, it is only polite to offer visitors refreshments."

"You aren't a visitor, you are an occasional nuisance."  
  


* * *

  
Elain sighs in contentment at the feeling of hands on her hair. She is going to be very pleased with whatever braid she ends with after submitting herself to Azriel's skills. Someone knocks at her door, and after voicing her permission, they enter her chambers. She feels the magnetic field of another magnet pulling her in. She feels the subtle changes in Azriel moves, tentacles more still and hands sharper. Elain opens her eyes and smiles at the mirror image. "Hello, Lucien. How was your trip?"

Lucien leaves a package by her table, and falls on her chair, more tired than she thought he would be. He sighs and runs his hand through his hair and Elain is quietly in awe it is not always falling on his face. "Same thing. Koschei is as hard to find as ever. Julian is trying to help Vassa with her duties, but he still is struggling with the modern world. At least he is seeing it as a novel experience instead of fading."

"Fading?"

Azriel answers her. "Humans call it depression now. Would you like me to give you two some privacy?"

Elain wants him here too but it isn't sure how to convey it in a way offensive to neither. She likes her easy going relationship with Azriel and on despite of herself, enjoys Lucien's presence, even if they are ignoring the elephant in the room. Especially since they are ignoring it. She catches Lucien's gaze on the mirror and her heart soars in joy when he shrugs. "Please stay Azriel. Besides, I am sure Lucien would appreciate your hair braiding skills too."

Azriel very pointedly tugs her hair with a tentacle, and bends to look at Lucien. She cannot see their exchange because of the shadows covering her vision, but she feels the small water shifts. It was overwhelming at first, to have her senses so heightened any swimming fish would demand her attention but by now she has become used to it enough she can filter her focus. So she feels much more than he sees when Lucien swims close to where she is.

Elain gives up her seat without any fanfare and goes to inspect the package. "Is this Nesta's?"

"Yes, and I bet my weight on gold she has sent you some books. It was heavier than the previous."

"You opened it?"

"Nothing of the sort. Just shaked it a bit to find if I should make a bubble for it."

True to Lucien prediction, Nesta sent her some textbooks, most on animal physiology, but some on morphology. She takes notice some of them will be very handy on future, taking special notice of the ones dealing with aquatic ecosystem and with physiology. She finds a Narnia book with a toy train, red lipstick and nylon socks in the same bag and is truly perplexed because she cannot gleam what that is supposed to mean. Is Nesta traveling somewhere? Did she find a long distance girlfriend? Is a long distance friend visiting her? This kind of cryptic message has to stop if they want continue communicating, Elain already has enough her visions.

But Nesta hits jackpot with her last gift.

Elain can forgive her for this. She will not forget, but then, her family has a history of holding grudges for a long time.

Elain lifts her head, confirms that her companions are too consumed in some sort of intense eye contact contest she is not acknowledging anytime soon and thus not her problem, and takes out a carton of condensed milk. She sticks a claw on it and drinks from the opening. She is drying inside an air pocket and joy fills her mouth, tasting of splendid sweetness with the smallest hint of sea salt. Elain moans quietly on her food but if it could be easily ignored on the surface, unfortunately for her, sound is a mechanical wave and so travels faster on water than on air.

She accidentally gets attention she was trying to evade. Elain refuses to tremble under it, even if she is now the subject of intense eye contact. In the quiet part of her mind, she plans where she will hide the other cartons. There is an incredulous thought that condensed milk could be considered smuggling goods of all things. "How are the trade agreements with the surface going on?"

"The Night Court has made some with the nearby countries. Is there something the matter?" Azriel says in a thoughtful tone, a neutral expression on his face. A shadow tendril pokes her surroundings. She pokes it back.

"Nothing big. Just had an idea to share with Helion later, that's all." Elain swims to where they are and looks at the intricate braid he did. She knows where it is supposed to start but there is no obvious ending to it. "I was right to trust you. It is pretty." She winks at him and ignores the feeling on her stomach, the tug on her blood. Magnetic fields pulling her, pulling stronger than the moon and the sea. "You look good with it, Lucien." Elain smiles, proper and pretty and ignoring it because she was of the earth first and foremost, and she remembers it, even if the ocean on her lungs doesn't.

Lucien owlish blinks to her twice and his expression opens in a grin. It delights the hungry creature inside her and only years of keeping the wild emotions inside her buried stop her flinch. "I suppose then, it is not due to my handsome face, but another's proficiency." Using a handheld mirror to take a look at his back, Lucien twist in angles that makes her spine hurt to watch. He swims out of the seat and bows, a palm downward and another upward. "You have dexterous limbs, Azriel Shadowsinger."

A blink and she would miss the corner of Azriel lips turning upward. "It pays to have so many."

"It is a shame though, your hair isn't longer. I would like to braid it."

Azriel shrugs. "I prefer it that way. Meanwhile I can keeping doing yours-" a tentacle fickles on Lucien direction "- and Lucien's hair, if that is your wish."

"That… that would be nice."

Elain smiles in agreement. That… that is nice, yeah. All of the three of them together, only small amount of awkwardness, the hate in her ribs for what she cannot change not having grounds to grow and fester... She could get used to it. It will be a bit hard, to match their schedules, and take more than a couple of tries, but she could do it.

Elain has time; she is as eternal as the foundations of the universe.

**Author's Note:**

> Nesta's messages:  
> As you can see, I am fine. (Photo) I have returned to my studies (UDHR), and I don't regret it, but I apologize for leaving you in the dark (bottled plant which needs sunlight). I say the same, I too wish to be part of your life (mirror)
> 
> Narnia book, train, lipstick and nylons: "When Narnia's touched people entered that train, only Susan didn't. They went 'Narnia' to stay there forever now. And only her remained. I am like Susan here. I will not return, even if things are different now."  
> Condensed milk: Elain's guilty pleasure, she loves it and underwater there are few sweet things.
> 
> Nesta absolutely thought she would be totally alone, but one day after classes she was tackled by people she considered casual/ by circumstance friends. She is surprised to this day they were not casual. It wasn't the original course I was planning for, but then, Nesta isn't a reliable narrator.
> 
> Azriel and other Ilyrians: Since this is a Mer - AU, the Ilyrians are cecaelia. That is, their lower half appears pretty much like an octopus and they are taller than most merfolk. They live in deep and abyssal waters and their tattoos are bioluminescent.


End file.
